Autoplay video Instagram story
Instagram videos have become a popular marketing tool, and they are not as complicated as you might think. In this guide, we cover everything you need to know about Instagram video posts and stories. Well look into methods to optimize your video content, technical specifications, and how to operate this medium to achieve the best results. Show
Why You Should Create Videos on InstagramNow more than ever, Instagram users prefer video content over text and photography. This statement is confirmed by the results of numerous Instagram engagement reports videos receive more interactions, more comments and shares. Theres a unique opportunity for you and your business to stand out with video content. An image is a powerful tool for social media marketing, but a video gives you much more room for expression. You have more time to articulate your personality, team, and behind-the-scenes stories that show your audience who you are. Our brains are programmed to retain moving visual content better than plain text or still images, which makes video such a great medium. And by winning over the hearts and minds of your audience, you get to improve your brand reputation and business performance. Different Types of Instagram Videos PostsThe list of topics for Instagram videos is endless, so you can talk about anything that aligns with your business objectives and brand message. Here are some examples of successful video topics you can explore. Inspirational: This type of content would not be as impactful if it were just a photo. A video catches your audiences attention and conveys emotion more effectively. Interviews: A captivating interview, as seen in the example below, is sure to bring engagement to the upcoming episode. A short snippet from the show provides more context about what it is going to be about. Memes: There is a huge benefit in bringing lightheartedness into your brands Instagram feed. Plus, the shareability of such a post is going to bring more people to your account. Tell a story: Every business has a unique story, and a video helps you express it. It can be a story about your company in general or the one behind a particular campaign. Below is an example from a string of videos with a unifying theme. New launch: Before new products hit the market, you can tease your audience with a snippet of them. You dont have to showcase them in detail but a visual representation is a powerful marketing tool. Sales promotion: Chances are your audience is eager to know about the upcoming sales. You can even hold an Instagram-exclusive sale to drive up your social media engagement. Existing products demonstration: Your regular products deserve special treatment as well. Show your audience how they look in real life and the right way to use/apply it. How-Tos: Instructional posts are also likely to be shared and reposted since they bring real value to the audience. People can learn something about your service, or products and stick around longer, to wait for other educational posts. Instagram Video SpecsInstagrams original format is the square but it also supports vertical and horizontal videos. Depending on the type of video, you will have slightly different guidelines for the dimensions of Instagram in-feed videos:
Instagram stories are predominantly viewed on mobile devices, so they made taller to fit more of the display. Video guidelines for Instagram stories are as follows:
Tips for Making the Perfect Instagram VideoIts becoming increasingly more challenging to catch peoples attention online. How do you make Instagram videos that are both concise and impactful? Here are our recommendations. Pick an Eye-Catching Cover Photo for Your VideoJust a random frame from your video is not enough for a cover photo. A cover is arguably the most crucial element of the post it can either entice your viewer enough to make them click or cause them to scroll past it. Focus on the First 3 Seconds of Your VideosOnce you catch peoples attention with a cover, your next challenge is to make them stay. If you dont interest the audience right from the start, youre going to lose them. Make sure the first couple of seconds are so engaging that the person will watch till the end. Dont Rely on SoundFocus on the visuals, especially in the beginning. The auto-play feature starts videos on mute, and not all users tap on the video straight away or at all. You want the video to convey your message even without sound. Find Optimal Video Length for Your VideoAs you post more video content, you will get more data points to determine which posts perform better and how long the videos should be. Get to know your audience by experimenting. Try different formats and approaches and analyze the views, engagement rate, and other indicators. Onlypult allows posting videos up to 100Mb for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media. How Long Can Videos Be on Instagram?Instagram has specific length guidelines for different formats. Before you upload the video, make sure it fits the requirements. If you dont, an essential part of your video can be automatically trimmed.
How to Post Longer VideosIf you want to upload videos longer than 60 seconds on your feed, you can select 60-second portions of it and combine multiple parts into a carousel post. Otherwise, you will not be able to beat this limitation. As for stories, Instagram rolled out a feature where it automatically splits up long clips into separate segments. And all of them are uploaded at once in the right order. So, you can confidently record videos longer than the regular 15 seconds. How to Combine Videos on InstagramIf you want to upload a long video to your Instagram, you can do it by merging multiple clips into one:
How to Post Videos with Music on InstagramYou spent hours creating a great Instagram video, and the last thing you want is for the post to be taken down. The Instagram team takes issues related to ethical behaviors in social media very seriously, and you can follow their rules without compromising your videos quality. There are a few ways to avoid infringing the copyrights of other people when posting videos to Instagram. Copyright laws vary from country to country, but here are the general recommendations that should help wherever you live. 1. Always give credits to the owners of the content When you incorporate someone elses music into your video, its legally and ethically necessary to share who the music belongs to. To avoid copyright infringement, ask for permission first, and then add the owners name or Instagram account. This rule applies to reposted content as well. Even the official Instagram account always gives proper credit to content owners. 2. Appeal if you want to use the music If you have failed to receive permission and include credits in the caption, your post can be taken down. But you can always submit an appeal, and you will receive further instructions about this process. For the future, try to give credit from the start, or your account will be disabled under Instagrams repeat infringer policy. 3. Make slight changes to the music You can bypass automatic detection by Instagram, by using video editors to alter the sound. You can move the pitch up or down, make it faster or slower, etc. However, there are some risks: your audience might not necessarily enjoy the new sound, or the owner can still make a claim to the video. 4. Use copyright-free music for your videos Even a quick online search will generate tons of websites with royalty-free music. It will help you skip the red tape associated with legally acquiring permission for copyrighted music. And it is considered the easiest way to source music on an ongoing basis. How to See Who Views Your Videos on InstagramInstagram has in-app features that allow users to see who exactly has viewed their video posts as well as stories. Conveniently, it shows not only the number of viewers but also individuals and their accounts. You need to:
If there is no such option, check if there are updates you have yet to download. This feature is available for Instagram version 7.17.1 and above for all platforms. As for who views your stories, you need to open the video you want to get information about and swipe up on the screen. You will see the total number of viewers and their accounts. Also, here you can limit access to viewing your stories. Onlypult posts to all social media platforms, provides analytics data, builds teamwork and saves you time. Reasons Why Instagram Videos Wont PlaySome users report that Instagram videos play for a few seconds and then stop playing or fail to load at all. Sometimes only the audio works, but the screen turns white. Regardless of how the issue manifests, there are common reasons why it happens. For iOS users, it can be:
Issues with videos for Android users can stem from:
In addition to the reasons above, there are common explanations that are relevant to any kind of mobile device. Some other culprits that may cause problems with Instagram videos not working include:
How to Fix Instagram Videos that Do Not Play/LoadSometimes, Instagram doesnt work because of issues on the servers side. But often, you can troubleshoot on your own and fix most of the issues listed above. Try these methods if an Instagram video doesnt play/load:
How to Upload Videos on InstagramLuckily for Instagram users, you have the option to upload videos from whatever device is more convenient. The process is straightforward and should not take you a lot of time. Below are step-by-step instructions on how to post a video using a mobile app and a desktop version. How to Shoot Videos Directly in the Instagram AppBoth iOS and Android Instagram apps have the functionality to record videos inside the app. The steps are:
Here is how you can shoot Instagram Stories through the app:
How to Post Videos from MobileIf you want to upload a video to Instagram in-feed from a mobile device, the steps you need to take are as follows: Step 1. Open Instagram and tap on the + icon in the middle of the navigation bar below. Step 2. Tap on All Photos in the drop-down menu, choose the Videos folder and find the video you need. Step 3. Tap on the video you need. If you dont want it to be automatically cropped to a square, tap in the icon on the bottom left. Step 4. Choose filters you want to apply or trim the video both actions are optional. Pick a cover photo on the bottom right by dragging along the video in search of the right screenshot. Step 5. Write a caption and tap Share. You can also tag other accounts, add hashtags, or the location, if you want, as well as post the video on other platforms simultaneously. All additions can be changed using the Edit feature. How to Post Videos from a PCUntil not so long ago, users were unable to upload videos from a desktop computer. However, now you can link your Facebook Business account with Instagram and use many features available there. To post a video, you need to: Step 1. Open the Creator Studio from your Facebook Page. Step 2. Click on the Instagram logo at the very top. Step 3. Connect your Instagram account by logging-in and giving Facebook Page Members shared access to the IG page. Step 4. Click on the Create Post button in the upper left-hand corner and choose whether you want to post an in-feed video or an IGTV. Step 5. Pick the video you need and, just like with mobile apps, write a caption and include whatever additions you prefer. Click Publish once youre done. How to Post High Quality (HD) Videos on InstagramThe Instagram algorithms are notorious for making video quality worse after the upload. But if you dont want to see your video destroyed by the automatic compression, try using these techniques:
How to Post Old Videos on Instagram StoryBefore the end of 2017, Instagram users had to face a 24-hour limitation for stories, meaning they could not post photos/videos that were more than 24 hours old. However, this rule has been removed. Just like you would typically do, tap the stories icon and swipe up on the screen to bring out your camera roll photos and videos. Select the video you are about to post, add text, hashtags, GIFs, and anything else available to you. Old videos will automatically have a sticker showing the date it was recorded. If you want to remove it, drag the date down into the Trash Can symbol. Then it will look like any other video on Insta Stories. How to Post YouTube Videos on InstagramInstagram doesnt allow you to post direct links to YouTube videos. Plus, you cant download YouTube videos unless you have a premium account. But there are a couple of ways to overcome these limitations. Method 1. Download the video to your computer/phone
Method 2. Screen record the YouTube video
How to Repost & Share Instagram VideosYou will need to download a third-party app on the AppStore or Play Market, where you have plenty of options. For this example, we will take a basic Download Repost for Instagram:
How to Download Instagram VideosCurrently, Instagram does not give you the option to download videos due to copyright and issues relevant to digital preservation. At least, there is no special feature and button to do it directly. However, there are a few tricks to save them. How to Download Instagram Videos on PC/MacThe first method involves inspecting the source code for a link: Step 1. Open the video you want to save to your computer. Step 2. Right-click (or Command+click for Mac) on the post, and depending on the browser youre using, select Inspect element or View page source. Step 3. Press Ctrl+F (or Command+F for Mac) to make the search bar appear. Step 4. Type .mp4 into the bar. Find a query string starting with src= and .mp4. Step 5. Copy this link and paste it into a new window on your browser. Step 6. It will open the video you need. Right-click (or Command+click for Mac), choose Save video as, find the right folder, and youre done. Another method involves downloading a special extension to your browser. For this, you will need to use Google Chrome.
Save Instagram Videos on iPhoneThe most common and effective method to download an Instagram video is to use third-party apps. There are free apps as well as paid ones, and its up to you to decide which one to use. The AppStore constantly gets an influx of new apps so type in Instagram Video Saver and see whats available. For this example, we will use an app called InstaSaver. Other similar apps should work by the same principle.
Save Instagram Videos on AndroidThe Google Play market on Android also has a vast selection of third-party apps. Follow the instructions above since there are practically no differences in how these apps work. There is another method to save Instagram videos on Android devices using a File Manager.
How to Find Live Videos on InstagramIf an account that you are following is doing a live video or has posted a recorded live video, it will be shown on the Stories bar. If a users avatar has the word Live at the bottom, you can watch their live video by tapping on it. This works for both desktop and mobile devices. If you want to see popular live videos by users you are not following, go to the explore page. Similarly, you will see a stories bar with top creators and those accounts you are likely to be interested in. Browse the top live videos and simply tap on those you want to watch. Instagrams top live videos are a great way to find new accounts to follow. If you are just browsing, you can tap in and out of the live or fast-forward to another part if its an already recorded one. If you dont want to see comments and likes, tap on the screen to hide them. How to Stop Videos from Automatically Playing on InstagramThe method for disabling the autoplay feature is the same for iOS and Android and is extremely simple. Take these steps:
The only difference between different platforms is that newer Android versions might have the settings under the drop-down menu on the top left corner. Other than that, follow the steps described above. Add several multiple links to Instagram instead of one to your goods and services pages, promotional campaigns and special offers, or other social media accounts. |